To prepare nurses to meet the growing demand for highly qualified nurse administrators, nurse leaders and nurse educators, Benedictine University’s College of Education and Health Services has launched a fully online Master of Science in Nursing (M.S.N.) program.
In launching the program, the University is responding to a specific need in the industry for individualized education.
Developed on the foundation of Benedictine’s experience educating nurses for more than 25 years, the new online M.S.N. program offers a truly innovative curriculum designed to prepare Registered Nurses at the master’s degree level for the rapidly changing face of health care. The program will emphasize interrelated academic preparation in areas of leadership, education, administration, and public and global health care.
Nurses will study these content areas in the context of emerging demographic trends such as the expected increase in the elderly population, and/or trends in caring for vulnerable populations including the homeless, those with chemical addictions, HIV/AIDS, the poor and those with catastrophic illnesses.
Unique relative to other M.S.N. programs, the Benedictine M.S.N. curriculum combines an eight-course core with the flexibility of four additional elective courses for an individualized curriculum. Students have the opportunity to reach across different academic disciplines to create a truly custom M.S.N. degree rather than following one track, which decreases exposure to the skills nurses need for this century and beyond.
Students of the M.S.N. program may select elective courses in subject areas such as:
• Disaster Management/Public and Global Health Care
• Health Care Administration
• Accounting/Finance
• Organizational Behavior
• Education
• Leadership
“The role of the nurse is rapidly moving beyond bedside care,” said Ethel Ragland, Ed.D., Nursing and Health department chair at Benedictine University. “Increasingly, nurses are taking on new challenges managing large clinics, overseeing million dollar budgets and educating the next generation of nurses to meet the growing demand.
“Our program is uniquely designed to provide nurses with a strong foundation so that they can flexibly adapt to and positively shape the future of health care,” Ragland added.
The flexibility offered by the elective courses allows nurses in the M.S.N. program to take multiple courses in a specific discipline area, or gain broad-based exposure to a number of different areas. This offers the student the opportunity for a personalized academic and career growth plan that also meets the skill demands for current and future professional practice settings.
“Nurses cannot be leaders without being educators,” said Bonnie Beardsley, Ph.D., M.S.N. program coordinator. “Nurses cannot be specialized to deliver care without the cultural competence and academic preparation that is inclusive of foundations of knowledge particular to education, leadership and cultural literacy in a global society.
“This program provides the nurse with the skills required to practice in any setting drawing from skills that define the meaning of ‘nurse,’ ” she added.
To learn more about the M.S.N. online program, contact Benedictine University’s admissions team at (866) 295-3104 or visit www.onlinedegrees-benedictine.com.

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Benedictine University is located in Lisle, Illinois, just 25 miles west of Chicago, and has branch campuses in Springfield, Illinois, and Mesa, Arizona. Founded as a Catholic university in 1887, Benedictine enrolls nearly 10,000 students in 56 undergraduate and 19 graduate programs. Forbes magazine named Benedictine among "America's Top Colleges" for the sixth consecutive year in 2016. Accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (hlcommission.org). For more information, contact (630) 829-6300, admissions@ben.edu or visit ben.edu.